Noctua NH-C12P SE14 CPU Cooler Review

👤by Sahil Mannick Comments 📅15-01-10
Closer Look





The bundle

One of Noctua's main appeal is the sheer generosity of their bundle. It is the same as the previously reviewed NH-D14, coming with two separate plastic sleeves labelled AMD and Intel kit. Each have a set of screws and brackets for installation. Along with these are the common parts which include the NT-H1 thermal paste tube, the motherboard back plate, the U.L.N.A and L.N.A adaptors for the fans, 2 wire clips and the installation manual nicely placed in a leaflet like sachet. For good measure, Noctua also throw in a metal case badge.


Finally the cooler itself

The cooler is an attractive piece of kit using nickel plated copper heat pipes and base and aluminium for the fins. The "C" design helps reduce the size and to achieve optimal airflow, Noctua have gone with the NF-P14. One thing to notice is that the fan is oriented in such a way as to push air downwards through the fins towards the CPU. This may seem counter intuitive but the aim is to cool neighbouring components. A good airflow is strongly advised to extract the air. For tower cases with side exhaust fans, it might be better using the fan as a "pull" fan instead.


The cooler without the fan, it doesn't quite match up to the size of the NH-D14

The radiator is still fairly large but the heat pipes are bent into "C" shapes to make sure that the height of the cooler remains small. The actual heatsink is the same as the old NH-C12P, the fan being the only change.


Side profile of the cooler

From the side profile, we can see that unlike the tower heatsinks, the base and the radiator are connected, meaning that heat can dissipate either straight from the base to the heatsink or through the heat pipes. This allows for a more efficient heat transfer.


The fin array

The NH-C12P SE14 uses a dense fin array for maximum surface area for heat dissipation. The top of each fin is jagged to create a serrated pattern. In the middle, the fins are smaller so that a screwdriver can get access to the spring coils on the base.

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